General Relativity: 1972 Lecture Notes

by Robert Geroch

Robert Geroch's lecture notes on general relativity are unique in three main respects. First, the physics of general relativity and the mathematics, which describes it, are masterfully intertwined in such a way that both reinforce each other to facilitate the understanding of the most abstract and subtle issues. Second, the physical phenomena are first properly explained in terms of spacetime and then it is shown how they can be “decomposed” into familiar quantities, expressed in terms of space and time, which are measured by an observer. Third, Geroch's successful pedagogical approach to teaching theoretical physics through visualization of even the most abstract concepts is fully applied in his lectures on general relativity by the use of around a hundred figures. Although the book contains lecture notes written in 1972, it is (and will remain) an excellent introduction to general relativity, which covers its physical foundations, its mathematical formalism, the classical tests of its predictions, its application to cosmology, a number of specific and important issues (such as the initial value formulation of general relativity, signal propagation, time orientation, causality violation, singularity theorems, conformal transformations, and asymptotic structure of spacetime), and the early approaches to quantization of the gravitational field. As a very helpful companion to this book can serve Geroch's "Differential 1972 Lecture Notes". This printing (24 September 2015) corrects all discovered typos.

178 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 2013

Reviews

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geroch's lectures on General Relativity gives (what I consider) a novel approach to the subject, by giving a physical introduction of concepts - unlike most books, which start with a mathematical machinery -, a clear example of this approach is the argumentation for the introduction of spacetime and the necessity of the structure of manifold on it.

The contents of the book range from the basics of spacetime, world-lines, clocks and light-cones, up to some introductory topics of causal structure, asymptotic limits, and even quantization of gravity.

I believe that any person interested in gravitation MUST study this book at certain point of its academic life, specially because it is not only about the subject, but the carefully presented train of thought of one of the brightest scientists on the area.